Nendo Reinvents The Headset, In The Image Of The Pen

Nendo’s new Stylo is chic, unobtrusive, understated—words not usually associated with headsets.

Most Bluetooth headsets look like miniature jet skis, transforming anyone wearing one into a middle-aged middle manager. Some have broken the mold, including Yves Behar’s headset-as-fashion-accessory Jawbone, but none have approached the understated elegance of Nendo’s Stylo for Logitec, an ultrathin device, whose tubular shape is inspired by a pen.

Nendo packed the electronic guts into small pieces of aluminum tubing, like an ink cartridge is stuffed into a pen, and even added a clip for attaching the headset to a breast pocket. "Both pens and headsets are communication devices," the Japanese studio states in its press release. "Because of these and other commonalities, we named the headset after the French word for ‘pen.’"

Rather than using paint, Nendo finished Stylo in a metal spray that can produce subtle yet distinctive color variations, from stainless steel to brass. The piece is meant to change over time, as it accumulates the scratches and marks that come from frequent use. Per Nendo: "These incidental yet planned details will bring further depth and attachment to the headset, like those of a well-loved pen used for years." Just don’t try to write with it.